The appearance of an updated Chinese ‘Blockchain e-Wallet’ on the App Store has added to confusion surrounding authorities’ stance of cryptocurrency.
Local news portal cnLedger reported Monday that the wallet from Beijing Arxanfintech “features Blockchain tech” and can be linked to a Bank of China debit card.
“As expected, we can't find [Bitcoin] or other cryptocurrency support anywhere in this app,” it added.
The official description of the wallet confirms reference to being a “Blockchain-based” offering, with payments sent and received via a so-called “red envelope” function.
China is currently in the midst of fresh regulatory upheaval, having last week banned ICOs, which led some sources to believe Bitcoin-to-fiat trading may also soon end.
Local news outlet Caixin was first to report the rumors Friday, with the global cryptocurrency industry undecided over the authenticity of the information.
BTCChina, the second largest Chinese Bitcoin exchange, published a response to the Caixin piece and suggested it would “change its business model” should a ban come into force.
“If the [Caixin] report is accurate, BTCChina will stop all BTC/CNY trading, and change its business model to become an information service provider for private, one-on-one digital asset trading,” the exchange said in a statement quoted in Spidren.
Its international arm BTCC meanwhile tweeted Sept. 8 that BTCChina was operating as usual and “had not received any new directives.”
At the same time, CEO Bobby Lee sought to gauge user awareness by publishing a survey about whether the China announcements were or “fake news.”